The effect of palm-based surfactants as spray adjuvants in glyphosate isopropylamine (IPA)

Author(s):
ISMAIL, A R*; DZOLKIFLI, O**; OOI, T L*; SALMIAH, A*

The utilization of some palm-based surfactants in glyphosate in isopropylammonium (IPA) formulations were tested. Three groups of nonionic surfactants were used, i.e, fatty alcohol ethoxylate CFAE) with five moles of ethylene oxide (EO), 7 EO, 9 EO and 20 EO, fatty amine ethoxylate (FAmE) and alkylpolyglycosides (APG). Cyperus rotundus, a thin-leaf and tuber-producing weed was used to test the efficacy of glyphosate IPA formulations. Twelve glyphosate IPA formulations were prepared and their stabilities tested at room temperature (RT) and 45°C. All the formulations were stable at RT, and nine appeared as one layer after keeping at 45°C for seven days. Efficacy tests were carried out under full sunlight. The application rates were 2.0kg/ha. 1.5kg/ha and 1.0kg/ha of glyphosate IPA, the active ingredient (a.i) per hectare (ha), and the spraying volumes used were 200 litres (l)/ha and 400 1/ha. The surfactant concentrations in the spraying solutions varied from 0,1% to 0.35% (w/w). Visual observation and analysis of variance showed that six formulations gave very promising results for controlling Cyperus rotundus. The formulations were FAmE, FAE (20EO), FAmE/APG (C8-C10), FAmE/APG (C8- C16), APG (C8-CIO), and APG (C8-C16).